Ixxxiv LIFE OF WILSON. 



hundreds of them may be seen, on a court day, hanging their heads from 

 morning to night, in deep cogitation, ruminating perhaps on the long-expected 

 return of spring and green herbage. The country people, to their credit be 

 it spoken, are universally clad in plain homespun ; soap, however, appears to 

 be a scarce article; and Hopkins' double cutters would find here a rich harvest, 

 and produce a very improving effect. Though religion here has its zealous 

 votaries, yet none can accuse the inhabitants of this flourishing place of 

 bigotry, in shutting out from the pale of the church or churchyard any human 

 being, or animal whatever. Some of these sanctuaries are open at all hours, 

 and to every visitor. The birds of heaven find a hundred passages through 

 the broken panes ; and the cows and hogs a ready access on all sides. The 

 wall of separation is broken down between the living and the dead ; and dogs 

 tug at the carcass of the horse, on the grave of his master. Lexington, how- 

 ever, with all its faults, which a few years will gradually correct, is an honor- 

 able monument of the enterprise, courage, and industry of its inhabitants. 

 Within the memory of a middle aged man, who gave me the information, there 

 were only two log huts on the spot where this city is now erected; while the 

 surrounding country was a wilderness, rendered hideous by skulking bands 

 of bloody and ferocious Indians. Now, numerous excellent institutions for 

 the education of youth, a public library, and a well-endowed university, under 

 the superintendence of men of learning and piety, are in successful operation. 

 Trade and manufactures are also rapidly increasing. Two manufactories for 

 spinning cotton have lately been erected; one for woollen ; several extensive 

 ones for weaving sail-cloth and bagging; and seven ropewalks, which, accord- 

 ing to one of the proprietors, export, annually, ropeyarn to the amount of 

 150,000 dollars. A taste for neat, and even elegant, buildings is fast gaining 

 ground; and Lexington, at present, can boast of men who do honor to science, 

 and of females whose beauty and amiable manners would grace the firet circles 

 of society. 



" On Saturday, April 14th, I left this place for Nashville, distant about 200 

 miles. I passed through Nicholasville, the capital of Jessamine county, a 

 small village begun about ten years ago, consisting of about twenty houses, 

 with three shops and four taverns. The woods were scarcely beginning to look, 

 green, which to me was surprising, having been led by common report to 

 believe that spring here is much earlier than in the lower parts of Pennsyl- 

 vania. I must further observe, that, instead of finding the woods of Kentucky 

 covered with a profusion of flowers, they were, at this time, covered with 

 rotten leaves and dead timber, in every stage of decay and confusion ; and I 

 could see no difference between them and our own, but in the magnitude of 

 the timber, and superior richness of the soil. Here and there the white blos- 

 soms of the Sangulnnria canadensis, or red root, were peeping through the 

 withered leaves ; and the buds of the buckeye, or horse chestnut, and one or 

 two more, were beginning to expand. Wherever the hackberry had fallen, or 

 been cut down, the cattle had eaten the whole bark from the trunk, even to 

 that of the roots. 



" Nineteen miles from Lexington, I descended a long, steep, and rocky 

 declivity, to the banks of Kentucky river, which is here about as wid« as the 



